lambchops's Full Review: One Hot Minute by Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have had their share of ups and downs. The ups usually involved making great music. The downs always revolve around heroin.
Two members have remained with the Peppers since they formed in Los Angeles during the early 1980’s. Schoolyard friends Michael Balzary (Flea) and Anthony Kiedis have been the driving force behind the band since it’s earliest days. The two also helped to launch a sound very much unlike traditional rock and roll. The band infuses funk and rap into rock music. The result is a great sound accented by Flea’s great slap-bass technique.
First bursting onto the scene with wild clothing, long hair, and a punk attitude, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their self-titled debut in 1984 on the EMI label. In this era of synthesizer new wave, the Peppers proved refreshing. The album got some attention, most of which was thanks to open minded college radio stations. Further attention was paid to the band with 1985’s Freaky Styley. Produced by king funkmaster George Clinton, this album further accented the Peppers’ style with modest hits like ”Catholic School Girls Rule”.
1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was a further continuation of the Peppers sound and featured a funked-up cover of Bob Dylan’s”Subterranean Homesick Blues”. During this time, other bands like Faith No More adopted the band’s sound and successfully incorporated it into their musical style. The band released an EP called Abbey Road featuring the foursome walking across the famous street wearing nothing but socks…something common for the crazy and often high band members. Soon after, friend, bandmate, and guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a drug overdose. The band from LA quickly snatched up the strange John Frusciante as guitarist and added new drummer Chad Smith.
With a solid foursome in tow, the Peppers released the album that pushed them even further into the limelight. Mother’s Milk spawned hits like ”Higher Ground” and the Slovak-dedicated ”Knock Me Down”. In 1991, everything seemed to come together for the band thanks to their amazing album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Known mostly for hits like ”Under The Bridge” and ”Give It Away”, the album was both critically applauded and commercially accepted.
Four years later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their long-awaited follow-up to their most popular album ever. One Hot Minute was recorded minus Frusciante (who was suffering from a drug addiction) and with Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction fame. Of course, it was unable to meet expectations set by their 1991 release. One Hot Minute is often regarded as a failure. The band seemed to lose some of their edge, but I maintain that this is a quality album…just not as special as Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
At thirteen songs, this is an average length album. Some of the songs prove enjoyable thanks to the formula long ago perfected by the Peppers. ”My Friends”, ”Aeroplane” and ”Warped” all made minor waves. But something was lacking. It became clear following this album that the ‘something lacking’ was sobriety. The Peppers still hadn’t learned from the death of friends and from past mistakes. One Hot Minute is at times a heroin-induced romp through never never land. It’s too bad that the victim in all of this was their music…talented guys with a great ear for music going to waste.
”Warped” was one of few even modest hits from One Hot Minute. It starts with Kiedis’ ironically warped voice. With modest sounding bass guitars and drums backing him, the song finally breaks down at almost a minute through. With an impossible-to-understand vocal track, this song lacks the spice that originally made the band famous. Flea’s impressive bass skills are obvious throughout this track. He’s got a great knack for driving a song with his instrument of choice. Flea is one of the most talented bassist out there.
Low key and light, ”Aeroplane” lacks the loud vigor of the majority of Peppers tracks. Navarro’s guitar is repetitive through much of the song. This leaves the vocals, bass, and drums to drive the track. Despite its relatively soft feel (of course, they are still the Peppers), the song rocks pretty hard. The feel is pure funk. In addition, Flea’s daughter and young friends are featured throughout singing It’s my aeroplane. Kiedis’ voice has never sounded better…and we all know he can’t really sing. Rap, yes. Sing, no. I personally found out at a concert back in 1999. If you don’t recall this track, maybe this’ll jog your memory: I like pleasure spiked with pain; Music is my Aeroplane
The third modest hit here is a dark and sad track called ”My Friends”. The song exhibits no sense of humor…something that has made for good songs in the past from the band. This is one that has been noted as being the product of the drugs. Anyway, as a song, it’s fine. As a song from the Peppers it’s simply strange. It’s slow and melodramatic. Oh, and if you’ve ever seen the video, Kiedis and Navarro share a very intimate moment.
Flea gets his moment in the spotlight with a strange little acoustic song called ”Pea”. Despite the odd sound and the strange feel, I enjoy this track. It’s very much unlike any other song on this album (or for that matter any other Peppers album I’m aware of). Flea sings and strums along to words like:
I’m a little pea
I love the sky the trees
I’m a teeny tiny little ant
Checking out this and that
”Deep Kick” is trippy and psychedelic from the beginning. Kiedis practices his spoken word skills throughout the track. The other band members seem to just strum along almost randomly jamming to the feel, the vibe. There is no way that this could have ever become popular on radio station or in any venue. Of course, at nearly two minutes into the song, it finally does something. By that point in time, it’s just too far gone. It’s not bad per se, just strange and difficult to understand.
I do appreciate the loud guitars and heavy sound of ”Coffee Shop”. What I don’t like about the song is Kiedis wailing up and down about who the hell knows what. I like the chorus, but beyond that it’s difficult to listen to the vocals. Fortunately, ”One Big Mob” returns to the formula of the band from the beginning. It’s a party track with great energy and great music. Kiedis raps in his typical fast manner. This is a must listen. It’s one of the best songs of the album, and most notably reminds me of the Peppers circa 1989. Great track.
”Walkabout” is both funky and free. Revel in this song’s ability to convey emotion via just instruments. Again, it’s at least a bit reminiscent of the Peppers before they got famous. Kiedis seems to somehow channel classic rapper Grandmaster Flash in front of Flea’s slap-bass and various other funk elements. This song proves to be another good track…underappreciated if you ask me.
The fact is that ”Tearjerker” is weak. It’s too tender, too soft, and too wishy washy. I just prefer a less mainstream sound from the Peppers. This song sounds like they were attempting to recreate ”Under the Bridge”. What we have instead is a flop compared to a lot of the band’s other songs. Boring and blah. Next, we have the title track ”One Hot Minute”. Why they chose to name the album after this song, I’ll never know. It’s okay in that it’s loud and unrelenting. But, it basically sounds like a revved up version of ”My Friends”. Not bad, but definitely not the best song on this album.
”Falling Into Grace” is another funk track. Of course, I like it. I prefer the Peppers when they sound like a funk-rock band rather than a pop-rock pseudo-band. The only drawback is the strange chorus that relies on a high pitched and loud voice. The music here is great, just not the vocals. The next song of this album is ”Shallow Be Thy Name”. As with other examples on this album, it’s got strange psychedelic elements. Fortunately, the heavy guitars, bass, and drums salvage what could prove to be bad. It’s not great…in fact, the sound reminds me almost totally of all the other funk-rock Peppers songs out there.
The final track is ”Transcending”. It’s emotional and light, relying on pop-rock elements rather than the band’s funk roots. The song proves to be good, I like the percussion (including a triangle), guitars, and bass. The tempo is just too slow and to moderated to make me more than just a bit interested. One Hot Minute wraps up in less than memorable fashion.
As you can see, there are better Red Hot Chili Peppers albums out there. Since the release of this CD, the band also released the recent Californication (1999). That album was commercially successful, but it seemed to me like they were finally selling out to the industry. Anyway, One Hot Minute could have been better. It should have been better. There are some near-great tracks, some moderately interesting tracks, and a turkey or two.
I give this album 3.5/4 stars. Since it is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I will round up for the purposes of Epinions. I only suggest you buy this album if you are real fans of the band. If you like what was on their most recent album, stick with that. You’ll never be happy with any of their earlier work. On the other hand, if you like the band, you’ll probably get some joy out of owning this album.
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